Sonic and the Sacred Charms
by StarlightSparks
Summary: When Dr. Eggman disappears, Sonic and his friends start preparing for battle. However, just when tension is at it's highest peak, the Blue Blur himself disappears. When Silver comes back bearing a warning, Shadow and Tails join him in a search to figure out why their hero went missing. Meanwhile, Sonic tries to uncover mysteries of his own as he encounters an old 'friend' of his.
1. Chapter 1

**Star: Hello! This is my first attempt at a story, so tell me how it went. I apologize if I made anybody OOC or missed some mistakes. I really enjoy it when people write stories about Sonic's past, so I want to give it a try. I don't own Sonic or anything in his world, and if I did I would be busy working on a new game or the movie. ^^**

 **Chapter 1**

Sonic impatiently tapped his foot on the wooden deck of Tails' house. "Almost done…there, that should do it!" his best friend exclaimed, bringing out a fixed blue watch. "About time! I was thinking that I would have to sleep on the couch!" the hedgehog joked, putting on the device. Tails sighed; the hero was known for his impatience, so the kitsune was relieved that Sonic had waited long enough for him to repair his communicator. It was generally a good idea to be able to contact him at a moment's notice. "So Sonic, how DID you break your watch without taking off your arm in the process? I mean, just hitting it against something wouldn't have left a scratch." Suddenly, Sonic's joy evaporated instantly. "It took a hit from one of Eggman's robots…" Tails frowned. Not only did something sound off with that sentence, but now the hedgehog seemed to be purposely avoiding his gaze. Not wanting to upset his friend, Tails changed the subject.

"Oh yeah! I was out flying the Tornado when I spotted something!" Sonic looked up to see Tails bring out a Chaos Emerald. "Sweet! Nice going bud!" Sonic exclaimed, not showing any sign of the unease or discomfort that he had been feeling seconds earlier. "That's our fourth one, right?" Tails nodded, "Yep, three more and then we've collected them all…don't you think it's weird that Eggman hasn't tried anything with the emeralds even though he boasted about his newest plan ending us…" A week earlier, Sonic had faced off with Eggman in Station Square. It was a normal fight until Sonic had beaten the robot. When his nemesis had shown no sign of anger was when the Blue Blur had known something was up. "You see, Sonic, that was only the start of my newest plot to defeat you once and for all!" Eggman had exclaimed. Before anyone could react, Eggman had flown off without a trace. The Sonic Crew had started preparing for the worse when there were reports of the greatest computer systems on Mobius getting hacked across the planet. Even Team Dark showed up at Sonic's house in the early hours of the morning to temporarily join up in order to be united against Eggman's newest plan.

Sonic shrugged. "As long as we have everyone together, then there's no way we can lose!" Tails relaxed a bit. "I guess you're right". "Of course I am," Sonic smirked "Since when has Egghead ever come up with something that can beat all of us? And now that we're all together, this will be a piece of cake!" As soon as he finished, the hedgehog gave Tails a thumbs up before dashing out of the door. A loud boom echoed the Mystic Ruins signaling that Sonic had gone off in search for a new emerald for the tenth time in the last few days. Tails closed the door and was heading back in his workshop when his communicator buzzed.

Tails clicked the watch.

"Tails?"

"Knuckles! Is everything alright?"

"Easy there; I was just checking in on ya. Did you finish fixing Sonic's communicator yet?"

"Yeah, though he busted it up pretty badly…do you know what happened?" Tails could practically see Knuckles frown as he added "Sonic wouldn't tell me anything other then that it got hit by a robot-"

Knuckles cut him off. "He encountered a robot?! I thought they stopped appearing in the zones!"

Suddenly it dawned on him. "That's Sonic's normal excuse for when he either doesn't want to tell or doesn't really know…come to think of it, he's been making more excuses like that recently…" Tails thought outloud.

"I'll tell the others to keep an eye on it, but for now you should focus on that chaos emerald tracker; we could use an easier way to track the things without using another emerald."

"You got it! Bye Knuckles!" Tails hung up and continued his routine of working before the whole gang met up at Angel Island.

c—(======

"You want me to do WHAT exactly?!"

"It sounds weird, but will you keep an eye on Sonic? He's been acting strange, and everyone else is busy with something else" Knuckles explained to the grumpy hedgehog.

"You want me to babysit him" Shadow said bluntly.

"It's not babysitting!"

"Spying then?"

"Yes-I mean-no! I-just please can you see what's going on with him?"

"Without him getting suspicious, I presume?"

"He doesn't need to know if it turns out to be nothing."

The Ultimate Life form sighed. "Fine. I'll babysit the Faker"

"It's not-"

Shadow hung up as he stood. He huffed before he skated off to find the blue nuisance. It wasn't the first time someone had asked Shadow to spy on Sonic. It was a regular task for him as a GUN agent, and he would occasionally do it of his own free will; though he would never admit to it, the Blue Blur was like a brother to him…not like the relationship between Sonic and Tails, but more of an older brother type of responsibility.

Shadow stopped as he heard the familiar sound of Sonic's footsteps. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Shadow could hear the differences in everyone's walking patterns. The weird thing about Sonic's footsteps that made them extra different from everyone else's was that you never heard his actual feet; they were a blur while the environment, such as a leaf, would react. That was one of the reasons Eggman couldn't use auditory alarm systems in his base or ship for whenever Sonic chose to sneak in. There was no sound to be picked up on the radar unless Sonic decided to make noise.

Seconds before Sonic could dash by, Shadow dashed behind a tree and watched as a blue blur streaked past where Shadow had been standing seconds earlier. Shadow rolled his eyes as he took off after him being careful to stay a reasonable distance behind. This was going to be easy. After all, what could Sonic possibly have to hide from his friends, especially Tails?

 **Star: Sorry for the short chapter, but I wasn't sure how well it was doing so I want to hear from a reader before taking it any farther…please comment anything you'd like to point out and I'll try to update as soon as possible.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Star: Ok, it's official: I suck. I keep on saying that I'll get to updating this story and then I go MIA for over a week. I promise that I'll continue to write for this, but I have no idea how my updates will go. School is starting, so it may be harder for me to update. Yep…I really suck, I know. Anyway, today I want to introduce the Sacred Charms…hopefully it'll work out well :)**

 **Chapter 2**

BOOM! Sonic took off from his conversation with Tails. Honestly, he was starting to get anxious for Eggman to make his next move. As much as he wanted to search for the man himself, Sonic didn't want to show his friends that he was getting worried as well. After all, it was Sonic who was keeping everyone as relaxed as possible for that last week, so showing his concern for the coming battle would only make things worse. The Blue Blur wasn't really going anywhere in particular since he had already scouted the whole area within a few hundred meters of Mystic Ruins. He knew that he should be checking in on Amy since she hadn't reported anything in the last 24 hours, but Sonic wanted to do a final check on the woods before heading over to Station Square.

Sonic stopped over a cliff edge and admired the scene below. There was nothing but an ocean of trees for as far as he could see. He wondered briefly how some of his old friends were doing back on South Island. To some they may just be simple Flickies, Peckies, Pockies, Rockies, Rickies, Cluckies, Pickies, etc [ **Star: There are even more of these believe it or not but for the sake of the story I'll just move on** ], but once you got to know them, (and learned their language) they were not just nice but also had very good morals that were more 'right' than the majority of the Overlander and Mobian population. They were full of innocence, and would often play games such as tag or hide-and-go-seek in the various land formations that made up South Island. Something occurred to Sonic. If there were tons of hidden caves and crevices back there, then that means that there could be plenty by the cliff sides of the whole Mystic Ruins!

Sure enough, as Sonic dashed off he noticed a small, nearly invisible cave that opened over a small pool of water. Sonic was sure that he hadn't seen this earlier, so he slowed down to take a better look at it. There were small inscriptions at the bottom of the entrance. " _Savior's Shrine_ " Sonic read in his head. Now he was sure that he hadn't been by here before. Sonic jumped over the pond and walked cautiously into the mouth of the cave. Little did he know that the entrance closed as soon as he had gotten a safe distance into the cave.

c—(======-

Shadow stopped at a small pool of water. He listened, then cursed when he had confirmed it. There was no sign of the faker anywhere. The black hedgehog examine the area closely, but it was no use. Sonic had disappeared into thin air. Just as he was dashing off, his communicator went off. Looking down at the intricate device the two-tailed fox had given him, he hit the 'answer' button. He then flatted his ears at the loud noises coming from it.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Amy, I can explain-"

"YOU. LOST. SONIC!"

"Tails! Watch o-" The voice Shadow recognized as Knuckles got cut off by an all too familiar sound of a hammer making contact with something."Amy! For the love of Chaos, calm down!"

"Are you going to continue to act childish or are you going to tell me why you called?" Shadow said after hearing enough of this conversation.

Silence.

"…Shadow?" Amy sounded shocked.

"Thank Chaos…" Tails muttered.

"Hey Shads" Rouge's voice came from nowhere.

Shadow ignored the greeting. "What do you need now?"

"Since Knuckles said you agreed to watch after Sonic, so we were wondering-"

"If I knew where the faker was? He vanished on my end as well" Shadow reported. He didn't like where this was going. It was going to be a long day.

c—(======-

Sonic heard his footsteps echo the cave as he ventured deeper into it. There was some kind of energy coming from the cave, and though it didn't feel like a Chaos it felt as if he had been in contact with it before. Sonic was racking his brains for some time he might've come across this cave but all he drew was a blank. Eventually, the tunnel opened into a larger cave and Sonic was temporarily blinded by the light.

It was designed like the Master Emerald's shrine, only there was nothing on the middle area. Each pillar held a stone that shone a different color. If you looked closer, you could see a symbol in each of them. There was a green, a pink, a blue, a red, a purple, a yellow, and a white one. Sonic only got close enough to the green one to see a leaf in it before he saw something in the corner of his eye. The center of the shrine was pulsing with alternating colors. "What the…" Sonic blinked, and it was gone.

He dashed over to it. Something about this situation made Sonic feel like this had happened before, like the murals on the Master Emerald's Shrine or when the Time Eater had attacked. Sonic cautiously stepped on the centerpiece. There was something engraved along the edge. Sonic read the engraving out loud this time for no particular reason except for it feeling right. " 'The Charms control the elements of life. The elements build the world around us. The guardian is the one that watches over and protects the Charms. The guardian balances the world.' " Sonic felt the ground shudder around him. "What's going on?!" He exclaimed as he looked around. Suddenly, a burst of energy came around him, entrapping the blue hedgehog.

c—(======-

"Now that we're all here-" "EXCEPT FOR SONIC!" Tails sighed. The team had gotten together to discuss the disappearance of Sonic. Amy was obviously still upset at them, mostly Shadow, about the whole situation. Speaking of that… Tails looked over to Shadow, who was in the corner as usual. "Yes, that's why we're here" Tails continued "Sonic has disappeared, which means that either Eggman has started his plan, or that something else has happened to him." Shadow spoke up "There was no sign of a struggle in any of the surrounding area that Sonic could've been in; he completely vanished." Rouge turned to him. "Shadow, what are you implying?" Shadow huffed. "The Faker has either gotten buried deep under the ground or he isn't on Mobius anymore." Silence. Amy raised her hammer. Before she could use it, a large earthquake came, causing everyone to reach for the nearest thing in order to keep themselves upright. "Woah!" Tails was knocked over by Amy and they both fell over in a heap. Knuckles had punched a fist into the wall to support himself and Shadow had grabbed the staircase railing. Rouge was standing next to an open window, so she had flown out of it. She looked around, expecting to see an army of robots but was instead greeted by a large beacon of energy coming from the top of a nearby mountain. The ground stopped shaking as the beam faded.

"Rouge!" The white bat landed back inside where her friends were recovering. Amy had called her in, and Rouge could see why. Tails was rather upset at Knuckles for ruining the wall and it was taking a rather large effort on Shadow's part to keep Tails off of the red echidna. "I HAD JUST FIXED THAT FROM THE LAST EGGMAN ATTACK!" Tails shouted, face going red from anger. Rouge broke up the fight. "Little guy, I think we have bigger problems than that right now. Amy's eyes widened. "What did you see?" Rouge described the sight. "Hmmm…I could've sworn I had read something about that a while ago…" Tails was pondering when a crash was heard from outside.

"Silver! What are you doing here?" Knuckles asked as the time traveler extracted himself from under a bookcase. Silver looked up to see everyone starring at him. "I came back in order to stop something from happening in the future. I need to speak with Sonic." The Sonic Crew exchanged glances. "Please don't tell me…is he already gone?" Silver said, panicked. "Umm…sorta?" Tall said reluctantly.

 **Star: CLIFFHANGER! So now Sonic is in a tricky situation with no friends to help him, and Silver is back just a bit too late. Please favorite, review, or both!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Star: Okay…I am the worst.**

 **Aurelio: What now? You've been on FanFiction a lot…oh.**

 **Star: Yeah…so hello! Remember me? The person from a…long time ago? Sorry about that… So, here are my excuses:**

 **-As I said, school has started so I can't update as much as I want to.**

 **-I've been working out possibilities for this story, and I've gotten a bad case of writer's block.**

 **-I'm a slow typer so it takes longer to write updates.**

 **-I have my Sonic 100 theme story to work on as well. I write somewhat more often there mostly because they're all one-shots (Or supposed to be, anyway). I'm also now taking requests over there so feel free to check it out! (Aurelio: Talk about shameless advertising)**

 **-I admit I have gotten caught up in Undertale, Pokemon Moon, and the holidays.**

 **Aurelio: Add in family and friends and even I can't yell at Star for not updating…too harshly anyway ;3**

 **Star: So now, I'm planning on updating this story at least once a month, but I guess we'll see about that. Now, let's do comments:**

 **Waterthorn13- Thanks for your continued support! I really appreciate it.**

 **Karygarcia21- Thank you, for both commenting and following me! I hope you haven't gotten tired of waiting for me!**

 **Chapter 3**

Tails sat down on the couch next to Silver, who was starring into the cup of tea Amy had made him. Knuckles was sitting across from him, and Shadow was standing in the doorway. Rouge walked in. "G.U.N. agents didn't see any other pillars of light. It seems that the one here was the only one." Silver nodded. "According to the old records, there was only one pillar, and it came right after Sonic's disappearance into the Savior's Shrine. Eggman attacked a week later seeing the pillar as a threat. With everyone separated across the globe looking for Sonic, nobody was able to defend against his newest robot army. Three weeks after the beam, Eggman ruled over Mobius and all of you were either in his control, dead, or hiding underground with the remaining survivors. A week after that, Sonic came out of the Shrine." Silver let his words take root as he took a sip of tea.

Knuckles was the first to speak. "So you're saying that…we should focus on Eggman and not look for Sonic." Amy looked appalled. "We can't leave him behind! Rouge sighed. "Its either a search for Big Blue that will fail or making sure there's a Mobius for him to return to, Pinky." Amy looked down at the floor "I guess.." Tails sighed "It does make sense…Sonic always shows up sooner or later no matter how long you look for him." Shadow stepped out from his corner "What is this…Savior's Shrine?" Silver shrugged "I didn't find much about it, so I assumed that those records got ruined in my time. I was actually kind of hoping to look into it once I located you guys…" he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. Tails nodded "We should have a week to prepare, so Amy, Knuckles, and Rouge; can you guys start organizing and evacuating everyone? Shadow and I will help Silver find out more about this shrine." Everyone agreed and set out to do their tasks. Tails sighed and looked out the window across the horizon "Good luck Sonic…wherever you are…"

c—(======-

Sonic woke up, springing into battle position only to see that he was floating in…whiteness? He experimentally curled into a ball and spun. Yep, definitely floating in whiteness. He uncurled and looked around for anything at all. "Anybody there?" Sonic shouted, hearing the phrase echo for a few seconds before dying down. He groaned. Leave it to him to get trapped in some dimension a few weeks before…Sonic's eyes widened. Eggman was bound to attack now that he was out of the picture. Sonic needed to find his way out of here, and FAST.

c-(======-

The G.U.N. library looked like Chaos had rampaged through it. With a bit of persuasion on Shadow's part -those agents were going to suffer some minor injuries once they woke up- they had been let into the library. At the moment, Tails was stacking the useless books back on the shelves that Shadow was reluctantly putting back together. Silver was using his powers to have about 20 books orbiting him as he read through their pages. Shadow finished the last bookcase "There, happy?" Tails looked over at him "Nice work! Soon we'll be done going through all these records." BANG. Tails and Shadow looked over to see Silver throwing the last of the books against the wall. "It's no use! All this stuff are things I already know! And to make things worse, there's not even records on Sonic so I can't even trace his ancestors!" Tails looked confused "What do you mean he doesn't have any records?"

Shadow picked up one of the oldest of the books Silver had thrown. "If the Faker doesn't have any records, that means that he either randomly came into our existence…or that even G.U.N. can't patrol some of the most remote parts of Mobius." Silver was about to argue when it clicked. "Tails…where did you first meet Sonic?" Tails frowned "Westside Island…he told me he just happened to be taking vacation on the same island that Eggman was going to attack next. Apparently Eggman had started his time as a villain trying to take over Sonic's home island-" Shadow cut him off "Which was?" Tails shrugged "He never said."

c—(======-

Sonic tensed when he heard a voice behind him. "Long time no see… _Sonic._ " Said hedgehog whirled around to see a ornate-looking mirror, only instead of seeing himself, Sonic saw a being he was all too familiar with. "Dark Sonic" he said with a growl.

 **Star: Sooo I was going to make it longer, but I think you guys have waited long enough. Please review and have an awesome day!**

 **Aurelio: Don't worry, I'm not letting Star out of the dungeon until the other story is updated ]:3**

 **Star:…BYE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Star: Surprise! I'm actually updating on time!**

 **Aurelio: Wow…is it the apocalypse?**

 **Star: Nope…I'm actually extremely late.**

 **Aurelio: What's the excuse this time?**

 **Star: …homework?**

 **Aurelio: …you've already used that excuse-**

 **Star: This is the time of year with the most homework, and I have at least three other deadlines-**

 **Aurelio: Fine, just go over the reviews.**

 **Waterthorn13- Thank you! I try my best!**

 **Sonictale101- Thanks! I'm actually going to try a different approach to this chapter, so nothing will be happening between them…for now =)**

 **Chapter 4**

Out of all the people Tails had met, Shadow was the only one he had met who had the ability to look completely gloomy at the beach. Even Silver was enjoying himself by using his powers on a stray beach ball. When said beach ball accidentally got popped on Shadow's quills, Silver and Tails finally refocused on the task ahead of them.

Walking down a sunny street, Tails was debating with Shadow while Silver strayed to a hot dog stand. "-there's an entire archipelago and at least 50 different stray islands in this area, it could SNOW here before we figure out where Sonic came from." Tails sighed as he messed with his communicator. Shadow thought for a moment "Didn't you say the Faker crash landed here?" Tails shrugged "Yeah, why?" Shadow rolled his eyes. "And you were the one to fix it?" In the background, Silver was arguing with the owner about how it was totally fair for him to order more hot dogs since he could just carry them all using what he called 'magic'. Tails nodded "Yeah…why?" Shadow rolled his eyes "If he crash landed, then the place he landed was supposedly the closest place to his island, unless he really want to test his plane's ability to run without fuel and several broken parts." Tails' eyes widened "Shadow, that's brilliant! C'mon, let's head there right-wait, where's Silver?" Silver ran past them with 15 hot dogs floating around him and his hands holding a bucket of condiment packets. "Hey, get back here you punk!" In a matter of seconds, Shadow and Tails was running after him.

c—(======-

Silver finished the last of the hot dogs. "See? Told you I could eat all of them." Shadow was leaning against a tree while Tails was collapsed on a large rock. "Where did *huff* that hot dog guy even *pant* get a *huff* spear?! There were NO stores even selling that!" Shadow scoffed "Maybe he keeps one handy for no-brains." "Hey! At least I can have fun" "GUYS!" Tails intervened, sliding off the rock and landing on his feet. "Let's stay focused. We're almost at the place anyway." The hedgehogs glared at each other before following Tails.

c—(======-

"Here it is." They arrived at the edge of a cliff that overlooked a beach. Tails took out his communicator. "According to my calculations, the only island in this direction is South Island, which is completely unsettled by Mobians as of the past year…" Silver looked out across the horizon "I can't even see an island, much less hover towards it." Shadow took out his chaos emerald. "I can try chaos control, but with me never being there, I would have to aim for a mile or two above our current height to avoid getting stuck through a tree or worse." Tails nodded " Silver and I will try to catch you. Here are the coordinates…"

c—(======-

On South Island, the creatures didn't receive a lot of visitors. When they did, it usually meant that someone wanted to know something about its mostly uneventful history. In this case, the visitors arrived a few feet above the largest tree on the island, causing a ruckus as the unfortunate Mobians tumbled through the branches. By the time they landed, every animal within a 10 mile radius had escaped to a more quiet area of the island. Every animal, except a certain Flicky, who had taught a certain hedgehog its language in exchange to learn the Mobian language.

 **Star: annnnnd cut! sorry for the short (and late) update, but I wanted to get this one out as a kind of apology. Anyway, thanks for reading!**

 **Aurelio: Please follow, favorite, and review! It helps chapters come out quicker!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Star: Let's just get straight to the point**

 **Aurelio: Are you okay…?**

 **Star: I have figured out that if I work longer on each chapter, I should be able to finish this story before the end of this year.**

 **Lio: I thought you liked writing stories…**

 **Star: I do, I just feel like this one has been dragging on. So, I decided to cut out some rather cringe worthy plot holes and an entire adventure of going back in time which would've involved incredible time paradoxes, convenient timing, and in the end would've been extremely unnecessary and boring.**

 **Lio: That was a bit harsh. I liked the part about mind slaves and the apocalyptic town that Tails almost got savagely torn to-**

 **Star: That last part about Tails wasn't in the plans in the first place.**

 **Lio: An ocelot can dream.**

 **Chapter 5**

The mirror shattered, revealing the form of one of Sonic's biggest secrets. Dark Sonic feigned hurt. "Awww…that's no way to greet an old friend." Sonic smirked "Sorry, _Dark_ , you never struck me as one to make small talk." Sonic felt himself fall slowly until his feet made contact with a smooth but sturdy surface. Dark Sonic landed a few yards away from Sonic. "Not as much as you, Light, but even I enjoy a little chat from time to time." Sonic stretched "So, what do ya want?" Dark sighed. "…guess it's story time….I'll cut straight to it."

c—(======-

'The chaos emeralds weren't the first guardian gems to exist. In reality, they are simply power storing rocks, like batteries that have the capacity to destroy entire planets. In reality, the gems that maintain the universe are much different. They cannot be simply used by a single random bloke who decides to be a hero-'

"Hey! You're just making up stuff now!" Sonic interrupted. "Ugh, I'm trying to tell a story here!"

'This gems are known as the sacred charms. Similar to the emeralds, there are seven of them. They are the colors green, pink, blue, purple, red, and white. Each one contains a set of traits that they monitor. However, they do not have a guardian Master Emerald. Instead, they circle a living guardian who protects them and keeps the world in balance. The guardian, born with the Charm's energy, is technically immortal, but they can die if they wish so.'

"So pretty much like Shadow?" Sonic asked. "Will you stop interrupting?!…and not quite. Contrary to popular belief, Shadow isn't perfectly immortal. He's just resistant. He will die of old age in his current form eventually. Now, will you shut up?"

'The Charms can be used by the guardian, obviously, but if a person's traits match up with those of a Charm, then they can use the charm. Currently, the guardian has been dead for a few hundred years. As you have noticed, Mobius has recently become more…chaotic. Since the Charms were taken out of the picture, it was left to the Chaos emeralds to monitor everything.'

c—(======-

"Tell me, Light. have you been experiencing any great bursts of energy?" Sonic frowned and looked down at his communicator. "I was in the middle of a patrol when…I dunno, I just kinda exploded. I was in the middle of nowhere, so nobody saw a large beacon of light burst out of me and destroy everything within a few feet. My communicator got fried like it was a tin can." Dark nodded. "Being born with the most chaos energy out of your friends, you were the only one to feel the energy spikes. However, you were also born with the Charm's energy. They did lead you here, after all."

Sonic looked confused. "I thought you said that only the guardian was born with…" his eyes widened. "No…but I'm not immortal!" Dark looked amused. "You have maintained the same appearance for the past few years, and in situations when you should've died you come out with only a few scratches that still heal abnormally fast. Even Shadow needs a bit of rest after falling from the atmosphere; but you've done it multiple times, then get up and start running nearly instantly. Doesn't that seem the least bit strange to you?" Sonic tried to respond, but he couldn't come up anything.

"Now we got that straightened out, it's time for the guardian trials." Sonic's quills raised in surprise as the world flipped before fading to black.

c-(======-

Sonic woke up in some kind of forest. It was completely silent. Sonic got up and looked around. He heard something behind him and jerked around. Dark was floating behind him, arms folded while he sat cross legged. "Welcome to your first trial, caution. To pass it, you must defeat 3 robots without causing any damage to all this plant life. If they see you, they'll set off a bomb. If you take too long, they'll set off the same bomb. If you spin dash, you'll cause them to explode. If you make a sonic boom, you'll destroy your surroundings. The trial will be repeated until you succeed. Good luck." Dark vanished.

The large sound of footsteps indicated that the trial had started. Sonic quickly scaled a tree just as the robots passed underneath it. He could clearly see the power packs and how to disconnect them, but he couldn't figure out how to get close enough without alerting the robots. Sonic waited a few seconds before leaping downwards, landing directly behind the one farthest from the others. He quickly yanked out the main power cord and dove behind the nearest bush. It deactivated, then dissolved. _One down, two more to go_.

The next robot was slightly harder. Sonic had to roll behind a fallen tree, then carefully crawly over to it. He lashed out at the last second and safely disconnected it. Now with only one more to go, Sonic waited behind a tree for it to pass. He almost got spotted, but thankfully a pinecone fell down nearby, causing the robot to dismiss him as just a noise. It was easy to finish him off after that.

The forest setting slowly melted away, leaving Sonic in pitch black darkness. A green light shone before him, revealing the green orb he had seen earlier. Inside it, a leaf pattern was engraved. Sonic could hear Dark's voice in his head. "This is the Charm you connect the closest to. It's traits are that of nature and balance. Treat it well." The orb vanished and Sonic could feel himself falling again.

c—(======-

Sonic scrambled through the flaming house, trying to complete the compassion trial. He was yelling despite how dry his throat was. "CREAM! CHEESE!" A charred floorboard nearly hit him in the head. "Mr. Sonic! We're over here!" Sonic dashed up the stairway and found Cream and Cheese desperately trying move away from the fire. Sonic spotted a window and opened it. "Over here!" "But-" "NOW!" The rabbit hurried, jumping out the window and using her ears to fly down along with her chao. Sonic was about to exit when he heard a whimper. A small cat mobian had her tail stuck in a doorframe. Sonic saw the ceiling begin to collapse over her head and dashed over, supporting the flaming mass on his back as he helped the cat out. It hurt, but it was worth seeing her escape safely.

Sonic saw a flash of pink, and a Charm with a heart inside it. It was filled with the traits of emotion and bonds. Sonic felt that it sort of reminded him of Amy. She was pretty heavily bound to him, and was very emotional. Sonic figured that this would probably be her charm. He hoped she was doing okay…

c—(======-

Sonic dashed around the prison cells and dodged the security enforcements. This was supposed to test agility or something. He ducked under a missile, and was about to move on when a wall collapsed behind him. It revealed a few hundred thousand robots. Sonic jumped as they all activated at once, and was gone in an instant.

There was an open vent, so Sonic chose to slide into it. This was giving him a feeling of deja vu. He crawled carefully through the maze. Unfortunately, just as he saw daylight, the support below him crashed. Disoriented, he sat up in the middle of…the army of robots on patrol. "Oh sweet Chaos…" He groaned before they opened their fire. He rolled over, then jumped onto his feet. After sidestepping a few lasers (and losing a few quills to them), he spin dashed through some more robots. Eventually, he broke out of the horde and dashed down the halls. Finally, he spotted the exit and burst through the doors, completing the trial.

Blue blinded him, and a Charm the color of the sky with a spiral in it appeared. It emanated freedom, along with spirit. Without debate Sonic could feel Tails within it. This time, Sonic braced himself for the fall, and relaxed as the next setting formed.

c—(======-

This was confusing. There were two windows before him. In one, there was a scene of a peaceful Mobius, with children playing together in a park. He could see himself in the background, but he couldn't find his friends anywhere. The other one contained the image of his friends making their way through some kind of wasteland with a few others. He couldn't find himself anywhere, and they looked like they hadn't eaten in weeks. Even Shadow was looking very unhealthy, and he didn't need to eat. In cold realization, he suddenly connected what Dark had meant about the chaos without a Charm guardian and how this was the trial of sacrifice.

He had to choose between himself and his friends.

Dark knew that Sonic would choose the lives of others' over himself any day. But as a guardian, sacrificing himself would lead to chaos and eventually a wasteland. To have the happiest ending, Sonic would have to choose himself. It went against everything in his character. He would launch himself in front of any impending doom to save anyone. Now, he would save more lives if he protected himself…at the cost of his friends.

Sonic hated himself more than ever as he selected his window.

Purple flooded his vision. The Charm contained a square, with a diagonal line between each opposing corner that formed an 'x' inside the square. Sonic was too numb to connect the Charm with Knuckles. He almost didn't notice the world fade to black.

Almost.

c—(======-

The trial of strength was a nice change after the last one. Sonic did what he did best; destroy countless robots at sonic speeds. He started feeling better about his decision, promising himself to never let the situation come down to that. Everything was going great until the next type of enemy appeared.

He had to kill living creatures…not robots, not shadow entities, and not just defeat them. Sonic at first delayed the battle, but eventually he was forced to…he didn't even like the thought.

The red gleam was almost as red as his quills. Sonic could feel the power and darkness radiating from the Charm. There was a longsword engraved inside it. It was definitely Shadow. Sonic felt sick as he was thrown into his next encounter, his quills turning blue again.

c—(======-

Sonic was holding a gun. He was really starting to hate these trials. He turned around and saw something tied to a pole. After a few seconds of staring, Sonic realized who it was. It was Eggman. This was the trial of justice. It wasn't that hard to see where this was going.

None of Sonic's friends understood this, but if Sonic were given the choice, he would never finish Eggman's life. Sonic knew that a number of people hated him for that, but he didn't care. Nobody knew who Kintobor was, or cared for that matter. Only South Island and its creatures knew that, and understood the full story. Professor Kintobor was the first person Sonic had failed to save.

And here Sonic was, forced to execute Eggman. Sonic saw Eggman stir, then look up terrified. Sonic could faintly hear him beg for mercy. Sonic closed his eyes and raised the gun. "I'm sorry" was all he could whisper before he pulled the trigger.

If it weren't for some of the earlier trials, yellow would've become Sonic's most hated color. A Charm that held a sundial engraving inside of it floated before him. This was Silver. The traits Time and Light faded along with the world as Sonic braced himself for the final trial.

c—(======-

Sonic was back in the white void. It was just nothingness. "Hey! Dark, you in here?" Sonic shouted, but nothing answered him. Sonic sighed and floated around. This had been the craziest day ever. Part of him wanted to believe it was just some dream, and he would wake up on Tails' roof to the sound of someone shouting for him to come down. He didn't think he was a good guardian; he always lost track of his items, even though his house was the most organized place on Mobius. His house…Sonic hadn't been there for weeks. It was a long trip, especially when he had to go undercover in order to not be seen. It would be a nightmare to have to deal with fans breaking into his house or ruining the environment around to put in new buildings. Technically, it wasn't even a house. It was the old lab, after some repairs of course. Sonic had fixed up the place as soon as he had become too well known to be able to avoid crowds.

Sonic wondered how things were going back at home. He doubted anyone would've noticed him missing, or even then probably just assumed he broke his communicator again. He had to get back before Eggman launched his attack, he just had to. Sonic would never forgive himself if-

"C'mon, Light. You worry too much." Sonic was pulled out of his thoughts as Dark approached him. "Nice job making it through the trials, this is the last one. Welcome to the trial of acceptance." Sonic smirked. "Alright, ready when you are!" Dark sighed. "As guardian, there will be multiple occurrences where you will have to face decisions like you did in the trials, but in less amounts of time. In this trial, you will have to fully accept your role as guardian, along with the one catch."

"In the event that you are unable to do a task that is necessary, your body will relinquish control to me. I have all the same feelings you do, but unlike you, I will not let them cloud my judgement." Sonic froze. He was going to have to give up…freedom? Dark chuckled. "Not like that, Light. You'll still be free to live out your life normally, or as normal as it gets. I'm just letting you know that there may be the day that I'll have to kill someone close to you who threatens the balance. The Charms are lenient, but they will overpower you if it becomes necessary to do so. Am I clear?" Sonic nodded, hoping to get home soon. Dark smiled. "Trial completed. See ya soon, Light."

The world darkened as the last Charm, a pure white glow around it, with an image of a gem inside it. It radiated value, and purity. Even though it was hard to tell, Sonic could sense that this would belong to Rouge. As the Charm floated towards him, all the other Charms appeared and started orbiting him. Sonic felt a burst of power in him as the world vanished.

c—(======-

"Ugh…oww…" Sonic got up. He was standing in the center of the shrine. Sonic looked around him. The Charms were missing from their positions, and were instead still circling him in an array of colors. Sonic jumped as he heard a voice. 'Told you I'd see you soon.' A ghost-like form was facing Sonic. "…Dark?" The apparition grinned. 'The one and only. Welcome back to the land of the living. You've been out for nearly a month.' "A MONTH?!' Dark nodded. 'Yep…we should be heading out to finish the battle soon…nice cuffs by the way." Sonic looked at his wrists to see that there were indeed two golden bracelets on them. "Great…now I look even more like Shadow." Both hedgehogs cracked up laughing.

 **Star: Okay, time for me to clear up a few details that are specific to this story;**

 **-Sonic didn't always get the trials on the first try. In fact, he failed the trials of Sacrifice, Strength, and Justice several times.**

 **-Time still went on through the line breaks, so there were a lot of scenes that weren't shown (aka deleted scenes). One of my favorites was Dark trying to teach Sonic history, but Sonic kept on guessing correctly on how the events turned out so there was no need for it. Dark was extremely frustrated.**

 **-Sonic was born with both chaos AND the charm's energy, so he is extremely sensitive to his surroundings. When he's submerged in water, his senses are muted, completely disorienting him. Hence why he tends to avoid it.**

 **-This is a universe in which the events of Sonic X took place, but several months later. Tails has accepted Cosmo's death, and Shadow has finally recovered. Sonic's transformation into Dark Sonic had been kept a secret between him and Eggman; even Shadow, Rouge, and the other robots had no idea, they just thought he lost his temper.**

 **-In his new form, Dark can only be seen and heard by Sonic, but can temporarily make contact with objects if he focuses hard enough.**

 **-As this chapter progressed, Sonic's character became less cocky and more serious. He'll often switch between this and his older self depending on certain circumstances.**

 **Anything else that was not said is something that's going to be revealed in a later chapter, or something I didn't notice. Sorry.**

 **Lio: So, how many chapters do you think are left?**

 **Star: About 4, give or take. This is probably the longest chapter I have ever written, so the others should be shorter. Why?**

 **Lio: Just checking to make sure you had an actual plan and not just excuses.**

 **Star: Hey! I resent that!**

 **Lio: Have an awesome day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Star: Hello! Hope you all are still there after the wait!**

 **Aurelio: You haven't updated at all in several weeks…**

 **Star: Well, I did put my one-shot series on hold for now…sorry to those who are following it; I promise I haven't completely abandoned you!**

 **Lio: Before we forget, comments!**

 **Waterthorn13- Thank you! I'm not sure if I'll do the 'deleted scenes' when I finish the story, but I'll talk more about that on the final chapter.**

 **Star: And thanks to those who have favorited and followed this story!**

 **Chapter Six**

Tails groaned as he woke up groggily. His whole body ached. Looking up, Tails realized that they had fallen a good few miles by means of the tall branches above him. The last time he could remember taking a fall like that was that time when he and Cosmo had accidentally discovered that Metarex base. Even then, Cosmo had to bandage him up and he was limping several days later.

The fox pulled himself up and looked around at his surroundings. It looked almost entirely uninhabited. Tails turned in a full circle, realizing that he couldn't see Shadow or Silver anywhere. He sighed. It was so much easier with Sonic because normally he had dashed around the whole area by the time Tails came around. Tails stretched before heading off in search of the others.

c—(======-

Shadow hated skating through weeds. He had no idea how Sonic moved so easily through it. His skates always somehow got tangled up, and it would always take a few seconds to get out. A few seconds that completely ruined his momentum. Shadow looked up at the canopy. despite it being so dense, tons of sunlight filtered through it. When he had woken up, he was a few meters above the ground and tangled up in some tree branches. After a well placed chaos spear, Shadow immediately started searching for the rest of the team. He honestly couldn't care less about where Silver was, but Tails had the valuable asset of having and knowing how to use the map on their communicators. If only the communicators had signal; otherwise this search would've been easier.

Shadow had been so deep in thought he didn't see the low branch until it was too late. He dashed face-first into it, making a painfully large 'thwack' sound. Shadow massaged his face as he stopped, trying to figure out the damage. Thankfully, his enhanced healing and defense capacities made it so he was uninjured, but it still hurt. He groaned. "Why couldn't the Faker have grown up in some civilized area like I did?! Space Colony ARK was way better than THIS." Still, it had been nearly claustrophobic in there while viewing Mobius in all its glory. The hedgehog sighed once more before venturing deeper into the forest.

c—(======-

Silver was not having a good time. After reaching three cliffs, a few dead-ended caves, and a few hidden ditches, he had tried climbing a large tree to get some perspective. His powers were exhausted from saving him from the some of the earlier mentioned hazards, so he fell an unfortunate amount times. Noticing that he wasn't getting anywhere, he tried to get some rest, but a flicky had gone and landed on him.

"What now…" Silver groaned. The flicky chirped. "Hello, stranger! Welcome to South Island!" Silver nodded and started going back to sleep. "Yeah that's ni-WAIT A SECOND!" He jerked awake and stood quickly, sending the flicky into the air. "You can talk?!" The flicky flew up to Silver once it regained it's balance. "Yep! As I said, welcome to South Island! I'm Sky the Flicky, and I'll be your guide!" Silver sighed. "I really need to find the others."

c—(======-

Tails flew across the canopy. "I'm sure this has to be the right direction!" He skimmed over the network of interwoven branches. He was about to give up and try a different area when he caught a glance of crimson and black fur through the branches. "Shadow, over here!" The said hedgehog stopped and turned, holding a hand to block out the sun's rays to better see the two-tailed fox descending through the leaves. "About time." He scoffed, secretly thankful to have found at least one of his companions. Tails shrugged. "Sorry, I couldn't come any faster. Did you find Silver yet?" Shadow rolled his eyes. "That idiot probably got himself tangled up in a tree somewhere.

A shout echoed the island, catching the attention of the two Mobians. "Speaking of the fool…" Shadow muttered before taking off in the direction of the sound with Tails in close pursuit. When they arrived, Silver had gotten himself out of the thorns he had fallen into. Sky was happily perched on his head, chirping words of encouragement. "You can do it! We're almost there! Oh, hello there!" he waved a wing at Tails and Shadow, who were the scene unfold, dumbfounded. Tails was the first to break the silence. "Who's that, Silver?" Sky flew up and began his introduction to the others.

"…and since I'm the only one who can fluently speak the Mobian language, I'm the self-assigned caretaker and guide of South Island! We don't get a lot of new faces around here, so it's a fairly easy job!" Tails nodded. "So who taught you Mobian? I'm pretty sure I haven't any reports on successfully teaching Flickies a new language before…" "Oh! Yeah, he's not here, so I can't introduce you guys, but I can show you around his lab-house thing!" Before they could respond, Sky had flown off again, leaving the others to try to keep up the best they could.

c—(======-

They had arrived at what Sky claimed to be the center of the island. The group had gone through a large variety of obstacles, apparently planted and arranged there to make sure no unwelcome visitors got to the lab, which Sky explained was a kind of hospital for the South Islanders ever since a bad lab accident. There were apparently two scientists that lived there; a Mobian child and a human. Explosions were common around there, but nothing close to the one that ended the human and left the Mobian all alone. It had been months before the lab was restored to its original glory, and as soon as the Mobian passed on his knowledge about each feature and some basic language, he had left. He still visited, but less and less as the years went on. There was a rumor going on that he had become famous outside of the island, so it became harder for him to sneak out for the visits.

"And here we are!" Sky flew into a cave, leaving the exhausted group behind. Shadow broke the silence. "So…The Faker worked in a lab…wonder how much he knows that he doesn't let on." Tails frowned, remembering every time Sonic asked him about something technology related. He always looked so bored when Tails tried to explain it in the simplest terms possible, and teased him when he used 'too complicated' words. To think it was all some act…Tails felt hurt. _Maybe it was a different Mobian, or he didn't study technology…_ Tails tried to find an explanation, but nothing added up. "I…don't know…" Tails admitted. He was starting to realize exactly how little he knew about his older brother and best friend.

"Well, there's no turning back now." Silver stood up straight and entered the cave, with Shadow close behind. When Tails followed, he saw just how far ahead Sonic was.

c—(======-

A ring, that's what the lab was. everything was concealed perfectly in solid rock. There was obviously something in the rock disrupting the signal from outside devices. All kinds of technology lined the outer walls. The inner walls were simply windows to an inner courtyard filled with trees and other plants. A small branch of a river flowed through the center, most likely powering the miscellaneous electronics. All kinds of display screens, computers, and wires were there, looking brand-new, and despite how old they were, everything was still way more advanced than anything Tails had seen.

They had been heading to what seemed to be the sleeping quarters when Tails saw a photo frame. _No…this is…_ He stopped in front of it, causing the other hedgehogs to come over and see the cause. It was Shadow who spoke first, trying to not burst out in chaos energy. "G.U.N. would kill to have this kind of technology; they've done it before with projects that look like kindergarten macaroni projects next to this." Shadow scoffed before continuing. "It's no surprise that he hid it. Too many people would question it, and he would be seen as even more of a valuable tool than he already is. The Faker was too self-sacrificing anyway, he would never have told us, even if it was tearing him apart inside." Silver was in stunned silence. Tails had collapsed to the floor. The truth he had hidden from was now starring him right in the face. In the picture frame, there was a tall, thin man with rectangular glasses and a long white lab coat. And right there, smiling directly at the camera with light blue quills and not-yet emerald eyes was Sonic, looking exactly as he did all those years ago.

 **Star: Ahhhh, that felt so good to finally type that all out.**

 **Aurelio: Thank you for reading, and please favorite, follow, and/or review!**

 **Star: Have an awesome day!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Star: Hello! An early update? The world must be ending!**

 **Aurelio: You seem happy.**

 **Star: Well, yeah! I don't remember the last time I was even on time! Plus, today happens to be Sonic's official birthday, so happy birthday to him! Not to mention I got new story followers and new reviewers! Speaking of reviews…:**

 **Hawkfeather- He's definitely one of the cutest characters. Also, I think Shadow could probably relate the most; I bet he's really just trying to find the best reason for Sonic's actions, but has actually no idea what to think XD Thank you!**

 **IcyPinkFlower- Awwww…thank you! I hope this chapter continues to impress!**

 **Aurelio: Thank you for your support, it is very much appreciated.**

 **Chapter Seven**

Shadow was having trouble figuring out the situation before him. There was no denying it; photo evidence was right there. The Faker really was a faker; a master one at that. Shadow had never seen this coming. It was completely out of Sonic's character, but really, they knew nothing about who he was. Shadow left Tails and Silver behind, opening what he assumed was Sonic's bedroom. There was a dark wooden floor, and the walls were pure white. All the furniture was jet black, but the bed had been replaced by a hammock that was perfectly still. Everything was covered by a thin layer of dust. The walls were actually pretty hard to see under everything posted on them. There were mostly photos, but occasionally there was an official-looking document posted. Shadow blinked. If the lab weren't excuse enough, this would probably be the main reason Sonic kept it all secret. If one had time, they could see his entire life's story, just from the walls. This was how Sonic had been able to keep on pretending to be someone else.

Sonic had left all his secrets behind here; the last place on Mobius someone would look.

Shadow glanced around. There were pictures of Sonic and Tails as children. They were smiling, and the photos gradually shifted to Sonic and Tails with Knuckles…then those three with Amy, and eventually Cream and Cheese and the others. There were even a few with Rouge and himself. Upon looking down, Shadow could see an army of photos Sonic had taken with each of his fans. He had kept every single one…that was a dedication that Shadow knew he lacked.

He was about to go back to the others when Shadow noticed a closet. He opened it, and discovered a TV with several shelves and drawers stuffed full of discs. Shadow popped one of the dustier discs into the DVD player, watching the screen come alive. At first it revealed nothing but a screen flashing black and white. The quality of the video was low, so the voices were released in a flood of static, some of the words lost to time. Shadow could faintly make out two voices, one young and squeaky, the other belonging to a middle-aged man.

 _"_ _Is —-—on?" "Yeah, I —- think…what does —-light mean?" "Oh, that-—-—working! Hello, —-, my name is —-—-—-—-—, and I'm the head researcher of -—-energy! Today, I'm here with my assistant, —-—-—-Hedgehog!" "H-hey! I'm new, -—-—-be —-in no time, and I already know—-—-—-—!" "Ho-oh! That's the spirit! Now let's—-—-—-"_

The video fuzzed out; Shadow figured that the disc must have gotten too scratched up. He placed the small piece of history back where he got it from. Sonic was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

c—(======-

They had just exited the lab when their communicators buzzed all at once. Upon turning them on and viewing the alert, a single notification for a message sent by Rouge appeared.

 _'_ _Eggman attacking. Everyone to Station Square. All robots focused. No sign of Eggman.'_

Alarmed, Silver turned to Shadow. "Can you Chaos Control there?" Tails jolted "But we haven't figured out half of what-" He was cut off by Shadow. "Sonic can explain that to us after he gets back. We need to make sure there's a place for him to come back to…that isn't ruled by Eggman." "Plus, he should be back in a week if things are going along the exact same." Silver added. Tails silently looked down at his shoes and nodded. Shadow got in position. "Chaos…"

c—(======-

"…Control!"

It was a disaster that greeted them as they arrived at Station Square. It was completely deserted, and the roads were empty. Not that there were roads, anyway; they all had large impact craters and some parts were on fire. The buildings weren't in that great a state either, with nearly all their windows shattered and the walls missing a significant amount of…well, wall. The taller ones had collapsed, some even leaning into other buildings in a domino-like fashion. There were fallen robots everywhere, the only sign of battle. Other then the crackling of fire and the occasional chunk of rubble falling, the city was ominously silent.

Silver had somehow gone pale. "This looks too much like…home." It took a moment for his words to become clear. This was the beginnings of the future Silver had been trying to avoid. The silence was shattered by a familiar scream. "Amy!" The three rushed off towards the source of the earsplitting sound.

c—(======-

The carnage was almost impressive; it could have been called awesome if it weren't so horrible. The other various members of Team Sonic were scattered around the battle. All were bruised up and looked exhausted. Amy had been knocked out, lying in a recent-looking crater in the side of a concrete wall. Rouge's wings were bent in unpleasant angles, and she looked ready to collapse. Knuckles was currently exchanging blows with a shiny silver robot, it's armor becoming severely dented before it finally exploded. Knuckles started to relax, but was quickly attacked by another robot. Looking back, the trio spotted many more robots that were practically in line, waiting for their turn to switch into the fight. That's about when Shadow lost his temper, something he had been keeping under control for awhile now.

A line of over twenty robots suddenly exploded without warning in a blast of chaos energy. Taking this as their cue, Silver and Tails charged into the battle. Relief flooded Rouge's face. "What took you so long, Shads?" Shadow scoffed. "Lost signal. Bye." A flash of light and he was gone. Distant robot destruction sounds could be heard, but that was the least of their worries. Tails spun into action, taking on some robots meant for action in the air. Silver flung another group into a wall. As more robots advanced, it became clear just how endless Eggman had made his most recent army.

c—(======-

Sonic was not having the best day. It was when he first tried to run out of the shrine and had run straight into a pillar that he knew he was in for it. "Owwwwww…" He rubbed his head. Dark was cracking up, finally explaining what had happened once his laughter had died down. 'As a newly awakened guardian, you…don't yet have full control of even half your power.' Sonic sent him a sarcastic look. "A little sooner would've been nice." Dark shrugged. After a few minutes, Sonic was confident in controlling his new speeds. He dashed out of the cave, careful not to cause a destructive sonic boom. That was going to be a lot harder now, considering that what used to be a slow jog could now send him through walls.

The next challenge had been the Charms. Each one was humming with power, and while it was comforting, Sonic had to ask for Dark's help when the red one blasted a hole through a tree that the green one rushed over to fix. Another hour of training, and Sonic was off again. He used the white charm the most, as it could make him invisible as he passed towns. Nobody should see him like this until he had given an explanation to his friends; all of them deserved to know. His communicator buzzed, and he checked it. There were probably a few hundred messages on it, but the one that got his attention was a message sent by Rouge a few hours ago:

 _'_ _Eggman attacking. Everyone to Station Square. All robots focused. No sign of Eggman.'_

…oh chaos.

c—(======-

The green charm had vibrated with anxious energy the moment Sonic arrived at Station square. "No." Sonic glanced over to it. "It's no good fixing up the city now if we just destroy it with another battle." It calmed down a bit, allowing Sonic to think straight. He activated the white charm for some cover and zoomed through what was left of the burning streets. Amy's scream had sent him towards the heart of the city. By the time he found his friends' location, a large, unexpected blast of chaos energy nearly broke his weak control over his newly gained powers; and by extension, the Charms. This was going to be interesting. Sonic aided his friends the best he could while staying hidden. He blasted away robots sneaking up on Tails, made the robots' armor weaken wherever Knuckles punched, and decimated anything that even tried to approach Amy, who was gradually regaining consciousness. Everything seemed to be turning in the heroes' favor.

That's when Eggman finally arrived.

Sonic snuck onto the scene, his presence completely unnoticed. His friends looked tired, and completely drained. Amy had gotten back into the battle, but was still a bit dizzy. Eggman grinned evilly and clapped slowly. "Congratulations, you managed to defeat my army, all without that blue rat. Oho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Is that what you're expecting me to say? Unfortunately for you, behold, my newest creations!"

Of course, Eggman had always lacked originality.

Hundreds of Metal Sonics flew onto the scene, littering the sky behind where their master hovered. They were shinier and looking more deadly than ever. "Now do you finally see how easily outmatched you are? I have a hundred of these, each one stronger than the last. There's no way you could possibly defeat ME, especially without Sonic, the only one of you even worthy of facing me! Are you ready to give up?" Eggman waited, but he never got a response; his speeches always lasted slightly too long for his own good. By the time he finished, Sonic had snuck behind him, and had gotten under Eggman's Eggmobile. At that point, it had been too easy for him to figure out the wire used for an emergency self-destruct sequence (it was literally labeled 'emergency self-destruct sequence'. It looked like Eggman had started to notice that all his weapons turned on him sooner or later). As soon as Eggman stopped speaking, Sonic activated it and sprinted away. The resulting chaos was amazing.

It was like they had ventured to an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere to set off some fireworks, which had gone horribly wrong while still creating a stunning show. Debris was flying everywhere, and everyone either ducked or ran for cover. A few energy shields were activated here and there, and a few members could hide safely behind Big the Cat alone, but other than that it was a free for all. Sonic was sure he was going to lose control of the charms. Thankfully, they all seemed to be working together for once in order to protect their guardian and keep overall damage at minimum. It was still a spectacular display.

As the dust started to settle, Sonic could hear Eggman's cursing as he started to reboot his Eggmobile. Deciding now was better than never, Sonic shouted "C'mon Egghead! Don't you want more? I was just warming up!" The stunned silence was all he needed. Unfortunately, the air was still heavily clouded with dust, so Sonic couldn't see the looks on everyone's faces. "S-s-sonic?! But my plan was foolproof! What are you doing here?! " Eggman sounded flustered. "Hey, I couldn't miss out on the action! But seriously, I'm gone for a few weeks and this happens. I mean, over half of the chili dog stands here are destroyed! You've got to be kidding me!" Sonic sounded more sarcastic then upset, but it was still unsettling how laid-back he was about all of Station Square being in ruin. When the air finally cleared, Sonic could hear several gasps of shock.

Every building looked brand-new, and the streets were in similar condition. Even the miscellaneous posters and newspapers had been replenished. The green charm returned to Sonic, humming happily. The pink one was buzzing, and the blue one's light seemed to diminish slightly. Sonic was almost completely distracted by the power humming around him. That was, until he heard a happy squeal and saw a pink blur rushing to tackle him. Seconds from impact, the red orb glowed dangerously and Sonic quickly pushed Amy back before she could hug him. Amy landed roughly on the ground, a red blast barely skimming over her head. Guilt formed in the pit of Sonic's stomach as Amy looked up at him in shock and hurt. Sonic was about to say something before Dark suddenly tackled him to the ground. A chaos spear flashed through directly where Sonic's head had been seconds before. Shadow was in battle position, his eyes sending a distrustful glare at Sonic. Eggman had taken this as an opportunity to escape, and nobody noticed the doctor slowly but steadily making his way out of the scene.

Sonic couldn't believe his eyes. The friends he had fought so hard for were now surrounding him, all readying their weapons. He shakily got up, feeling an anger that wasn't his coursing through him. The charms shook with an agitated energy, and Dark was illuminated by a field of negativity. Taking a deep breath, Sonic tried to quell his overwhelming emotions. The silence created a heavy feeling of dread. It was Knuckles who broke the silence. "Who are you, and where is the real Sonic?" he said carefully.

Sonic looked up at the vast blue sky above. _I hate to be serious, but here goes nothing._ "I am Sonic the Hedgehog, Guardian of the Sacred Charms, wielder of the Chaos Emeralds, Hero of Mobius. The one you know is not the real Sonic, but a mask kept up to protect everyone from the truth, and himself from the guilt. The Sonic you're looking for is not the easy going guy you love, but a hedgehog trying to make up for every flaw by concealing it." Sonic glanced towards Dark, who gave him a small, quiet nod. "Either way, we should get outta here before anything else is said. I…get it if you don't want to hear it. If you feel like hearing me out, then I guess I'll see ya in Green Hill Zone…" Dark reluctantly put his guard down, and the Charms circling around Sonic increased in velocity until a flash of light lit up the area. When it dimmed, Sonic was gone.

c—(======-

Tails, Shadow, Silver, Knuckles, and a few others gathered in Green Hill Zone. It wasn't hard to find Sonic. He was sitting under a tree, leaning against the trunk. It was the same tree where his birthday was celebrated every year. The date finally dawned on the group approaching as they saw the empty picnic table. They tried to remain angry or suspicious about Sonic, but in reality, a feeling of guilt washed over all of their faces.

The blue blur closed his eyes. "So you guys did come. Sorry that I arrived early." The silence resumed. "Uh…well, I guess it's story time." A sigh. "…I never really wanted to tell you guys this, but you deserve to know."

 **Star: Hey, what can I say? I love cliffhangers…and hate them at the same time. I was originally going to make this chapter longer, but it was going to take too much away from the next one so I cut it off here. So I have some good news, and some bad news;**

 **Good News: Woohoo! Only one chapter left! It almost been a year, so I can't wait to finally finish my first multi-chapter story. I think I should thank you all for being here, especially for making it through the first few chapters…I am not sure if I want to fix the many grammar errors in them or not. Still, it's awesome to have you guys reading this, so thank you!**

 **Bad News: Okay, so I am going away for the entirety of July. I won't be able to type while I'm there, so I don't know when the final chapter will be out. It should be done before September, but otherwise, I have no idea. I'm going to be working hard in the next week to get packed, prepared, and whatever else done. Please don't hate me if the update isn't until late August!**

 **Aurelio: Star's going to be trying their best, so please stay patient! Reviews, follows, and favorites, would be much appreciated, as they keep this story in progress! Have an awesome day!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Star: Finally, we are here! The last chapter of SatSC…I honestly thought that this would never be completed.**

 **Aurelio: Well, it's definitely been a ride.**

 **Star: I'm still kinda in shock, but I'll save that for the end of this chapter. Your support on the last chapter was amazing! Here are reviews:**

 **karygarcia21- Thank you! I hope the wait wasn't too long :D**

 **Reviewthing- First off, Thank you so much! I'm glad I impressed you! Being busy sucks, so thanks for understanding. Here's to hoping this chapter lives up to your standards! :)**

 **Guest- Don't we all love cliffhangers? XD There's no escape from them! Thank you for the review!**

 **Hawkfeather- *Reads review, then rereads it several times while cracking up with laughter* This may be my favorite review ever. That was some extreme roasting, along with pretty much the best comments I have read in awhile XD Thank you, for both the awesome review and your support!**

 **Chapter Eight**

The sea was rough, and unforgiving. He tried to call for help, but the only thing it accomplished was getting more water in his lungs. It had been a long day, and the ocean was literally rubbing salt in his wounds. In the distance, he was able to see an island. He held in whatever breath he had left and frantically paddled towards it.

Waves had thrown him far up the beach. He slammed into a large rock, and his vision was fading away into darkness despite his best efforts. The last thing he saw was several large shapes approaching him. A worried-sounding voice was calling out to him.

c—(======-

Wearing a lab coat slightly too long for him, he hurried along the side of his best friend and guardian. It was supposed to be lunchtime, but it didn't matter. They always forgot to eat when they were this excited. Backing away from an opened box, the professor revealed a small treadmill, the perfect size. He carefully slipped out of his coat and tried it out. It became his favorite pastime, along with his small electric guitar he built.

One day, he ran too fast on the treadmill. The professor had rushed in as soon as he heard the explosion. As first they were scared, but they soon laughed it off. Other than minor repairs, the only thing completely replaced were his sneakers. The new ones were cooler anyway.

c—(======-

His shout came too late. He fought through the fire, setting all the animals free. Just when it looked like he would die there, it started raining, and the fire died down. He collapsed in the rubble, light blue quills whipping his face. The rain mixed with his tears and ran down through his smudged and dust covered fur. He had been too slow.

The professor didn't come back that day.

c—(======-

At first, everything held no purpose. He had started to fix up the lab before abandoning it. For a few days he even stopped eating, not caring about his abnormally fast metabolism. The flickies and their miscellaneous friends of course brought him food and made sure he ate after that, but they couldn't help beyond simple snacks and the small conversation here and there. He had just given up.

That's when he ran into his first robot.

His friends had gone missing, so he ran off to go find them. An unfriendly and out of place robot attacked him, so he did the natural thing anyone would do in this kind of situation. He spun into a ball and destroyed it. When a flicky came out, he knew he had some work to do. Dashing around his island was the most fun he had ever since the incident. The profess-no, the doctor tried to stop him, but he was on a roll. Whenever one retreated, the other gave chase.

So when the doctor left in an attempt to conquer a different island, he taught the Mobian language to a close friend and left their island for the first time in years.

c—(======-

He had started to become used to surprises. Having gone far from his island, he made many new friends, who were like family to him. Mystical gems were the norm, and flying madmen were a regular occurrence. His eyes changing color had barley gave him any concern. The destroyed city after one great battle caused him much grief, but it wasn't too far-fetched He was sure everyone would hate him for failing. However, he would never get used to the sheer number of fans he had; despite everything, they still loved him. It sometimes became too much. So when Mobius started to combine with Earth, he went back home and fixed the lab, renovating everything and building new designs. Soon, his home was better than ever, and it only improved as his old family moved in. Finally, he decided to come back to his family for their next adventure.

When he returned, he was taken into a helicopter. It was the handcuffs that gave him the hint that he should try to escape from the city. Meeting his mirror had been the first thing to truly catch him off guard in a long time. Before he could do anything, he was taken to an island prison. He was going to break out, but something kept him in. His family would be there soon, so he saw no point in making chaos. Later on, he ended up in space for what felt like the millionth time. The tape had nearly broken his heart for the fifth time in his relatively short existence. Losing his faker had finished that job. Space became a bad omen for him. He tried to reassure himself that he would never leave the planet's orbit as he returned to his home.

c—(======-

That lasted less than a year. He was finally back on the true Mobius, and now his family was pulling him into space. Seeing his brother fall in love warmed his heart, and seeing her and his human hurt shattered it again. That's when he met his true reflection, someone more accurate…and someone who scared him. The doctor had understood, and kept it a secret. Memories of the incident were made fresh in his head as he buried this part of deep within him and moved on.

Losing her had broken his brother's heart, and everyone else's. He had grown a bit numb to the pain, acting as an anchor for them as they went home. He just had to go back to his old family after so long apart. As he headed back from his home, he said goodbye to her and his human. A voice inside told him that he would never see them again, and that in the end, he had failed them both.

He told it to shut up.

c—(======-

After finally coming back to Mobius for real, he spotted a ship in orbit. He left his friends to land on their own as he busted up robots left and right. He had cornered the doctor when disaster stuck. The emeralds failed him and were ripped away, unleashing his inner monster. Thrown to the surface, he started his next adventure with a new friend, putting the planet back together like some giant puzzle.

That pain was almost nothing to him.

Almost…

c—(======-

He didn't know how to react to the amusement park. It was like the doctor had put all of his fears and bad memories into a balloon with a smiling face. Every time the aliens shared their power with him, he was told a piece of history from their prospective. His brother didn't believe him and built his own translator instead. He never got the same sense of understanding from that, though. He preferred the more colorful method of communication.

It was sad to say goodbye, but the aliens constantly came back to help him out, whether it be in battle or getting through a hard area. Not anyone else; just him. It was like they were told some of his story as well during those brief moments of bondage. Sometimes, they just came to hang out, and make some good memories. Goodbye seemed to be too long a wait for them as well.

c—(======-

He was about to run yet again when he saw his younger counterpart. Thankfully, the little guy was just as good as hiding his pain. He felt too much relief at knowing that. The trip down memory lane was harsh, the most horrible times generating the worst enemies. Then again, he stopped feeling that pain a long time ago. Getting his younger self through it was the real challenge, but soon everything was back to normal. The normal small adventures took place. Nothing too big.

c—(======-

He was an idiot. He had gotten distracted by the joy of working with the doctor again. It was too late when he finally realized that in working with his former enemy, he had pushed away his brother. He had inadvertently put his closest friends in harms way, and his sensitivity to pain had come back full force when everyone he cared about was separated from him; he had lost his world.

Even when the danger had passed, he didn't forgive himself, feeling the pain he had kept at bay for so long. People noticed how he was becoming more defensive during battles, and how he stopped leaving his friends for extended periods of time like he used to.

c—(======-

When tension was at its highest, he was no longer joking around the second he was alone. His chaos energy was out of control, making him a disaster waiting to happen. So he simply was always out on patrol. It got a bit hard at times to explain certain things like his always malfunctioning communicator, but he always came up with a lame excuse. He had left for another run when he found a strange cave.

His reflection had greeted him in the void. An awakened power that had stayed hidden from even himself greeted him at last. It had caused him the most alarm when the trials were over and he couldn't control himself. He had almost seriously hurt his family, and many of them weren't going to trust him for a long time. In fact, they only silently acknowledged his story, trying to not show any emotion as he told it to them. He answered all their questions before they were even asked. His closest brother carefully hugged him, the floating relics kept on a tight leash for the duration of it. One by one, his family slowly said goodbye. Nothing indefinite, of course; there had yet to be something to keep them apart forever. The last one to leave was his mirror. Finally, when it was just the two of them, he walked his brother home. When they arrived, he watched as the fox entered his room. He waited for the lights to go out before turning away from his brother.

A lot had happened in the past few years. There was even more waiting for him over his indefinite lifespan. Sighing, he dashed away from the same door he left through a mere month ago, only to return like this. A novice guardian of overprotective charms, who wasn't trusted around those he had put his life on the line for millions of times. He was planning on honing his skills so that by the time he returned, he would be safe to be around. As he vanished into the shadows, his words were carried on the wind he stirred up behind him.

"See ya later, Sonic the Hedgehog."

 **Star:…**

 **Aurelio: Cat got your tongue?**

 **Star: …My first multi-chapter story…sorry, I feel like I've been punched in the gut. You readers are awesome. I was going to give this up a few months ago, but you definitely saved this story. I want to thank all of you guys for pretty much everything. Over 10,000 words have brought us to the conclusion of Sonic and the Sacred Charms. I'm incredibly lucky to have you readers around, so thanks for that. About 15 months ago, I came upon my first fan fiction here on FFN. Then around 10 months ago I started a FFN account and posted this story. Now here we are.**

 **Aurelio: So is this the end?**

 **Star: Of course not! Sure, this story will be marked as complete, but eventually I may follow through on an idea Waterthorn13 gave me. It's possible that 'Deleted Scenes' chapters may appear, whether it be posted in this story or not. I'll be picking up my Sonic 100 one-shot story collection again, so you can go there if you want to read more by me (plus you can make a request for a chapter…just saying).**

 **Aurelio: Thanks for sticking around, and have an awesome day!**


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